Contents

Design
and development

In 1977, the UK Ministry
of Defence issued a requirement for an anti-submarine warfare (ASW)
helicopter to replace the Royal Navy's Westland Sea Kings. Westland
responded with design WG.34 that was approved for
development. Meanwhile, the Marina Militare (Italian Navy) was also
seeking a replacement for its (Agusta-built) Sea Kings, leading
Agusta to discussions with Westland about the possibility of a
joint development. This culminated in the joint venture being
finalised in November 1979 and a new company (EH Industries)
being formed to manage the project the following year. EH is an
abbreviation for Elicottero Helicopter, incorporating the
English and Italian words for "helicopter." As the design studies
progressed, EH became aware of a broader market for an aircraft
with the same capabilities required by the British and Italian
navies, leading to a more generalised design that could be
customised. After a lengthy development, the first prototype flew
on October 9, 1987. EH Industries no longer exists, having been
incorporated into the parent when the two companies merged.

Following the lead of the UK and Italy, the Canadian government
placed a $4.4 billion (CAD) order in 1987 for 48
(later 42) EH101s to replace the Canadian Forces's CH-124 Sea
Kings and CH-113 Labradors. These were to be
assembled in Canada under the designations CH-148
Petrel (33 originally, reduced to 28) and CH-149
Chimo (15) in the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and air/sea
search and
rescue (SAR) roles respectively. The whole programme was
cancelled, however, after a change of government in 1993, leading
to the payment of $500 Million in cancellation penalties.

In 1998, the Canadian government
announced that the CH-113s would now be replaced by a new
search-and-rescue variant of the EH101, carrying the designation
CH-149 Cormorant. Unlike the Petrel/Chimo
contract, these 15 aircraft were to be built entirely in Europe.
The first two aircraft arrived in Canada in September 2001 and
entered service the following year.

When it became obvious that the Sea Kings were in need of
immediate replacement, the EH101 was again part of a Canadian
competition (the Maritime Helicopter Project), versus the Sikorsky H-92, for
a total price tag of $5 billion. The Sikorsky entry won the
competition on July 23, 2004, and was designated the CH-148
Cyclone.

Operational
history

CH-149 Cormorant Helicopter Lands in Vancouver.

The first operational CH-149 flight occurred in 2002 when a
Cormorant of 442 Squadron performed a medevac from a merchant ship
200 km offshore in Hecate Strait. An even more dramatic
demonstration of Cormorant capabilities occurred in late 2002 when
a 103
Squadron CH-149 successfully flew a 1,200 km round-trip
rescue mission to a container ship off Newfoundland. Two refuelling
stops at the Hibernia oil
platform were required.

Operators

Notable
incidents

Throughout its service, the EH101 and its variants have been
plagued by tail rotor hub cracking issues. A British Merlin crashed on March 30, 2004
due to tail rotor hub cracking.[1] The
CH-149 Cormorant has been grounded/limited flight status multiple
times with these cracks being one of the causes; all 15 aircraft in
Canadian inventory showed cracks of varying degrees shortly after
entry into service in 2004.[2]
Subsequent re-engineering by AgustaWestland resulted in newer hubs in
2005. Out of the 6 aircraft which had the new hubs installed, 3
showed cracking one month later.[3]

On 13 July 2006, a CH-149 of 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron
crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia killing three personnel and
injuring four during a joint search and rescue exercise. Mechanical
failure was formally ruled out as the cause of the crash.[4] On 11
March 2008 the Directorate of Flight Safety for the Canadian Forces
has announced that it was pilot error that caused the 2006 crash,
and that Air Force officials were aware of the lack of training
that pilots were receiving. Preliminary reports indicate that
pilots were unaware of how to use the autopilot feature and thus a
controlled flight into terrain situation occurred causing the
deaths of three airmen.[5]